Jim Brown is a practicing attorney and member of the State Bar of Georgia with more than 30 years’ transactional experience in real estate, business and corporate, and estate and probate law. Over the years, his clients have included purchasers, sellers, tenants, and borrowers of hotel, office, parking, restaurant, retail and mixed-use commercial properties; developers and owners of single- and multi-family residential properties; banks and mortgage lenders; national title underwriters; manufacturing, sales and distribution companies; county, municipal, education and other governmental authorities; and other law firms, in-house and out-of-state counsel, and solo practice attorneys. Brown’s expertise includes due diligence, title underwriting, document drafting, compliance, escrow and closings; managing complex properties, transactions and negotiations, client and provider relationships, attorney and non-attorney staff; and coordinating among clients, other parties, their counsel and service providers to achieve common goals.

A native and life-long resident of Atlanta, Brown earned his AB from Davidson College in North Carolina, majoring in European languages and literatures (a self-directed, interdisciplinary thesis program). He earned his JD from Emory University School of Law, where he participated in founding the Emory Journal of International Dispute Resolution and leading the Emory International Law Society. He also earned the American Jurisprudence Award in Conflict of Laws, was chosen for Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, and was a member of Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. Brown earned his Master of International and Comparative Law cum laude from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (in Brussels, Belgium), presenting his thesis in European community business law, governance and jurisprudence. He earned his Master of Taxation from the School of Accountancy at Georgia State University, complementing his business, estate and tax planning practice at the time.

In addition to his law practice, Brown authored practice commentaries for Georgia Jurisprudence chapters on Real Property Sales, Title, and Deeds. Brown has researched legal and real estate issues associated with a local church’s constructing a memorial garden for interring ashes, and developed the church’s policies to institute, operate and maintain that garden in accordance with state law, local ordinances and denominational directives. He continues in active service with the congregation through various property management, music, pastoral care and community ministries. Since 1999, Brown has been a frequent speaker and lecturer for continuing legal and paralegal education seminars on a variety of topics, and he actively supports colleagues in real estate practice throughout Georgia as a member of the Real Property Law Section and a regular participant in that Section’s listserve. With his wife, Cynthia (also an attorney), Brown served three years as co-president of Northside Atlanta Parents for Public Schools, Inc., a leadership and advocacy community organization for the North Atlanta cluster of Atlanta Public Schools. In 2013, Cynthia ran for and won election as the Seat 8 At-Large Member of the Atlanta Board of Education. Jim returned to Emory Law in the fall of 2016 as an adjunct professor to teach Contract Drafting through the Center for Transactional Law and Practice.